i 


;  .»>»■ 


A    SERMON, 


COMMEMORATIVE    OF    THE 


RT.  REV.  THOMAS  FREDERICK  DAVIS,  D.  D„ 


LATE  BISHOP  OF  THE    DIOCESE  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA, 


PREACHED    10TH    OF    DECEMBER,  1871, 


GRACE  CHURCH,  CAMDEN, 


REV.   JOHN  JOHNSON, 


AND   PRINTED  AT  THE  REQUEST  OF  THE  WARDENS  AND   VESTRY 
OF  SAID  CHURCH. 


CHARLESTON,   S.    C. 

WALKER,  EVANS  &   COGSWELL,   PRINTERS, 

Nos,  3  Broad  and  109  East  Bay  Streets. 

1872. 


r 


Cp0 


MEMORIAL    SERMON. 


"  But  none  of  these  things  move  me,  neither  count  I  my  life  dear  unto  myself,  so  that 
I  might  finish  my  course  with  joy  and  the  ministry  which  I  have  received  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  to  testify  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God. — Acts  xx,  24. 

Saint  Paul,  whose  words  these  are,  is  taking  leave  of  the 
Ephesian  elders,  on  his  way  to  Jerusalem,  where  bonds  and  im- 
prisonment await  him.  At  the  seaport,  ready  to  depart,  he  had 
sent  for  them,  and  now,  as  they  assembled,  every  eye  was  fixed 
on  him,  every  ear  was  open  to  catch  and  dwell  upon  his  fare- 
well charge.  And  when  he  had  spoken  it,  we  read  :  "  He 
kneeled  down  and  prayed  with  them  all.  And  they  all  wept 
sore,  and  fell  on  Paul's  neck  and  kissed  him,  sorrowing,  most  of 
all,  for  the  words  which  he  spake,  that  they  should  see  his  face 
no  more." 

But,  in  withdrawing  himself,  how  great  and  precious  a  legacy 
he  left  with  those  Christians  at  Ephesus,  and  with  the  Church 
to  the  present  day!  If  but  the  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed, 
how  much  more  so  when  it  descends  to  us  embalmed  in  living 
words  of  divine  and  eternal  truth  !  Such  are  these  of  our  text : 
for,  although  St.  Paul,  by  his  long  ministry  of  zeal  and  en- 
durance, has  left  us  the  example  of  one  whom  none  of  those 
things  did  ever  move,  and  who  refused,  time  and  again,  to  hold 
his  life  dear  unto  himself — yet,  what  an  invaluable  motto,  or 
rather  what  an  expressive  key  to  the  man  and  to  his  ministry 
do  these  actual  words  from  his  own  lips  convey !  The  mere 
events  of  his  eventful  life  might  have  been  told  with  even  more 
of  fulnessand  graphic  description  than  now  we  possess:  the 
externals  of  the  great  Apostle,  his  travels  and  adventures,  might 
have  been  narrated  to  us  by  St.  Luke  with  more  precision  and 
historic  formality  ;  but  if  it  had  been  done  at  the  cost  of  leaving 
out  these  words,  revealing  to  us,  as  they  do,  at  a  glance,  the 
inner  life,  the  very  secret-spring  of  the  Apostolic  spirit,  little 
would  have  been  the  gain  and  great  would  have  been  the  loss. 


When  St.  Paul,  calmly  facing  the  work  before  him  in  all  its 
bonds  and  afflictions,  said :  "  But  none  of  these  things  move 
me;  neither  count  I  my  life  dear  unto  myself,  so  that  I  might 
finish  my  course  with  joy,  and  the  ministry  which  I  have  re- 
ceived of  the  Lord  Jesus  to  testify  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of 
God,"  he  reveals  to  us  a  spirit  of  unflinching  devotion  to  duty. 
Such  was  the  spirit  of  the  incarnate  Son  of  God,  our  Lord  and 
his  Lord,  Jesus  Christ;  and  only  from  Him,  the  Master,  could  it 
have  descended  upon  the  disciple.  Such,  in  terms  placing  it  far 
above  all  common  heroism,  and  far  beyond  all  mere  fanaticism, 
is  the  spirit  of  the  Christian  ministry,  described  by  St.  Paul  to 
Timothy,  as  not  a  spirit  of  fear,  "  but  of  power,  and  of  love,  and 
of  a  sound  mind."  Such,  in  all  ages,  has  been  the  spirit  of  the 
"  faithful  minister  of  Christ,"  from  Epaphras,  in  the  earliest  suc- 
cession of  the  Apostolic  Church,  laboring  fervently  and  having 
a  great  zeal  for  them  of  Colosse,  down  to  the  present  time.  Yea, 
God  has  not  left  himself  without  a  witness  in  our  own  day  and 
generation;  for  have  we  not  fresh  in  our  memories,  Brethren, 
the  ministry  of  our  dear,  deceased  Bishop  strikingly  exhibiting 
that  spirit  of  unflinching  devotion  to  duty  for  Christ's  cause  and 
kingdom  which  St.  Paul  showed  ?  Like  him  he  was  moved  by 
none  of  those  things,  counting  not  his  life  dear  unto  himself,  so 
that  he,  too,  might  finish  his  course  with  joy,  and  the  ministry 
which  he  had  received  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  testify  the 
Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God. 

An  earthly  pilgrimage,  burdened  with  infirmities  for  upwards 
of  forty  years,  has  been  ended.  A  ministry,  faithful  and  zeal- 
ous, and  powerful,  and  blessed  of  God,  has  at  length  been  closed  ! 
An  Episcopate  of  eighteen  years,  long  to  be  remembered, 
pitched  in  troublous  times,  yet  wise  and  gentle,  and  firm  and 
hopeful  to  the  last,  has  suddenly  been  suspended !  The  blessed 
Jesus,  that  gracious  Bishop  and  Shepherd  of  our  souls,  has 
called  him  away  from  the  distractions  of  time  to  the  rest  of 
eternity, — from  the  divisions  of  Christendom  to  the  Church  in 
glory,  where  there  is  but  one  fold,  and  but  one  shepherd.  And  we 
may  well  pause  to-day,  in  reverent  study  of  our  loss,  which  is 
his  gain  ;  pondering  no  dark  dispensation  or  chastisement ;  sor- 


5 

rowing  not  as  those  without  hope ;  but  endeavoring  to  collect 
and  clasp  together  fondly  the  memories  of  his  life,  in  one  re- 
view ;  to  see  wherein  his  excellence  and  his  eminence  lay  ;  to 
thank  God  for  his  testimony  and  example ;  and  to  learn  some 
lessons  from  his  holy,  his  devoted,  and  his  most  instructive 
ministry. 

Would  that  some  more  worthy  tribute  than  this  I  bring  were 
to  be  spoken  in  his  behalf!  Yet,  if  in  places  the  words  of  this 
discourse  should  appear  to  fall  short  of  glowing  eulogy,  it  will 
be  only  because  I  knew  him  well  enough  to  discover  how  he 
shrank  from  exaltation,  and  rose  above  it  in  Christian  self- 
abasement.  If  again,  in  other  parts,  this  memorial  should  seem 
to  outrun  in  terms  and  measures  the  ordinary  admiration  of 
slight  acquaintance,  let  it  be — not  my  excuse — but  my  warrant 
and  authority  that,  in  the  ordering  of  God's  Providence,  I  knew 
him  long  and  intimately,  sat  at  his  feet  and  hung  upon  his 
words ;  have  received  and  treasured  up  his  fatherly  counsels, 
and  returned  his  affectionate  confidence  with  an  unfeigned  filial 
love. 

Thomas  Frederick  Davis  was  born  near  Wilmington,  North 
Carolina,  8th  February,  1804,  thus  lacking,  at  the  date  of  his 
death,  but  two  months  to  complete  the  68th  year  of  a  lifetime. 
His  father,  Thomas  Frederick  Davis,  had  married  Sarah  Isabella 
Eagles,  and  this  was  their  eldest  son.  They  had  two  sons, 
Junius  and  George,  and  a  daughter,  yet  living — -the  former  son 
died  in  1 86 1  ;  the  latter  still  lives — once  a  member  of  the  Con- 
federate Cabinet,  now  a  prominent  lawyer  in  North  Carolina. 

In  going  back  to  Colonial  times,  we  find  the  ancestors  of  the 
Davis  family  resting  awhile  in  Boston,  and  then  settling  in  South 
Carolina,  in  the  Parish  of  St.  James',  Goose  Creek ;  among  them 
were  Sir  John  Yeamons  and  James  Moore,  both  Governors  of  the 
Colony.  Later  they  removed  to  the  rice  lands  of  the  Cape  Fear 
River,  where  they  eventually  became  identified  with  Wilming- 
ton, and  made  it  their  home.  The  two  Carolinas  were  at  one 
time  known  as  one  colony.  May  the  ties  that  now  bind  us 
together  in  the  chronicles  of  the  past,  in  the  wars  of  the  State, 
arid  the  peace  of  the  Church,  be  evermore  cherished  and  per- 
petuated ! 


After  being  baptized  in  Wilmington  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hailing, 
who  afterwards  became  Rector  of  our  Georgetown  Church,  and 
whose  grave  is  to  be  found  there  still,  the  eldest  son  was 
sent  by  his  parents  at  ten  years  of  age  to  a  boarding  and  pre- 
paratory school,  at  Chapel  Hill,  hard  by  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  at  that  place,  and  attached  to  it.  Four  years  spent  at 
the  school,  and  four  more  at  the  University,  grounded  and  set- 
tled the  young  man  in  the  educational  preparation  for  life.  The 
Bishop,  in  after  years,  spoke  of  his  not  having  studied  or  pro- 
fited so  much  at  Chapel  Hill,  as  he  could  and  ought  to  have 
done.  Nevertheless,  he  gave  ample  evidence  of  power  and 
promise  among  his  fellow  students.  Of  his  seniors  were  Green, 
Bishop  of  Mississippi,  and  Otey,  Bishop  of  Tennessee ;  while 
among  his  classmates  were  James  K.  Polk,  President  of  the 
United  States ;  also,  Bishop  Polk,  of  Tennessee,  Dr.  Francis 
Hawks  of  our  Church,  and  Judge  Battle,  of  North  Carolina. 

Returning  to  Wilmington  after  his  graduation,  full  of  life, 
ambition  and  intelligence,  and,  moreover,  stimulated  by  a  doting 
father,  he  entered  immediately  upon  the  study  of  law :  in  due 
time  being  admitted  to  the  membership  of  the  bar,  he  practiced 
with  success  and  rapidly  growing  distinction  in  the  courts  of 
that  section  of  North  Carolina.  This  continued  for  the  space  of 
six  years,  and  in  that  time  he  had  married  his  first  wife,  Miss 
Elizabeth  Fleming,  also  of  Wilmington.  She  bore  him  a  son 
and  soon  after  died;  this  must  have  been  in  1828.  The  son, 
Thos.  Frederick  Davis,  Jr.,  lived  to  graduate  with  the  first  hon- 
ors of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  to  enter  the  sacred 
Ministry  of  our  Church ;  and,  after  a  novitiate  in  North  Caro- 
lina, to  follow  his  father  into  this,  our  Diocese,  to  succeed  him 
in  the  charge  of  Grace  Church,  Camden,  and  to  engrave  twice 
over,  by  his  fervid  piety  and  brilliant  talents,  the  name  of  his 
father  in  the  records  of  the  Diocese,  and  in  the  hearts  of  our 
people.  As  they  of  Camden  have  had  a  double  privilege  in  this 
particular,  so,  also,  have  they  had  a  double  loss  and  a  repeated 
sorrow,  for  the  dust  of  the  father  has  been  now,  at  length,  laid 
side  by  side  with  the  dust  of  the  son  in  their  cemetery;  and  the 


7 

only  solace  in  our  common  bereavement  is  the  thought  of  that 
happy  meeting  but  yesterday  between  father  and  son,  in  the  bet- 
ter country,  where  we  must  all  strive  to  join  them. 

Up  to  this  period  of  the  Bishop's  life,  we  have  no  record 
whatever  of  his  religious  character  or  development ;  he  never 
spoke  of  any  ;  but  now,  upon  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  the  Holy 
Spirit's  pleadings  with  his  soul  were  multiplied,  and  in  the  day 
of  their  power,  he  became  willing  and  obedient.  The  Baptismal 
covenant,  (never  forgotten  by  our  gracious  God,  who,  though 
we  believe  not,  yet  both  in  his  justice  and  mercy  "  abideth  faith- 
ful,") was  at  once  ratified  and  confirmed  with  the  laying  on  of 
hands ;  and  more  than  that,  so  deeply  stirred  were  the  fountains 
of  his  moral  nature,  as  to  cause  him,  almost  without  hesitation, 
to  abandon  the  practice  of  the  law  with  all  the  assured  dis- 
tinctions of  a  secular  life,  and  to  throw  himself  with  fixed  pur- 
pose and  holy  ardor  of  soul  into  the  work  of  the  Ministry.  And 
yet  such  a  determination  was  far  above  a  sudden  desire,  a  human 
natural  choice,  a  rushing-in  where  angels  fear  to  tread;  it  must 
have  been,  as  with  some  of  us,  a  conclusion  guided  by  a  Heaven- 
ly power,  a  conviction,  shrinking,  humble  and  prayerful,  yet 
ever  returning,  persistent  and  prevailing,  that  except  the  new 
Christian  life  be  fixed  in  its  aim,  and  exercised  in  such  work  as 
the  Ministry,  it  will  die  out.  Be  he  willing,  or  be  he  unwilling, 
the  servant,  who  is  called  and  truly  sent  into  the  Ministry  by 
the  Master  himself,  must  feel,  and  be  persuaded,  and  say  with 
the  great  Apostle,  "  necessity  is  laid  upon  me ;  yea,  woe  is 
unto  me,  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel !" 

His  preparatory  studies  were  not  comprehensive,  neither  were 
they  protracted.  His  collegiate  education  had  set  him  well  for- 
ward in  general  culture,  and  his  legal  studies  and  business  habits 
had  already  given  him  advantages  over  most  of  our  theological 
students.  He  was  ordained  a  Deacon,  in  St.  James'  Church, 
Wilmington,  by  Bishop  Ives,  of  the  Diocese  of  North  Carolina, 
on  the  27th  day  of  November,  1831.  He  was  then  twenty-seven 
years  of  age.  In  the  following  year  he  was  ordained  a  Priest, 
again  by"  Bishop  Ives,  in  the  town  of  Pittsboro'  and  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Bartholomew,  on  the  16th  day  of  December. 


The  Ministry  of  his  Diaconate  and  the  first  year  of  his  Priest- 
hood were  spent  in  hard,  fatiguing  missionary  work.  The  towns 
of  Wadesboro'  and  Pittsboro'  were  ioo  miles  apart,  and  in  each 
of  these  he  gave  services  on  the  alternate  Sundays,  driving  in  a 
conveyance  from  one  to  the  other  during  the  week.  He  had  now 
married  again ;  his  second  wife,  who  was  Miss  Ann  Ivie  Moore, 
also  of  Wilmington,  being  still  with  us,  the  survivor  of  her  dis- 
tinguished husband.  She  always  accompanied  him  in  his  mis- 
sionary drives  ;  and  when  the  question  was  once  asked,  where 
they  lived — the  answer  was  truly  given  in  these  words  :  "  On 
the  road."  The  fruits  of  this  active  work  were  the  establishing 
of  Calvary  Church  in  Wadesboro',  and  the  building  and  conse- 
cration of  St.  Bartholomew's  Church  in  Pittsboro'  ;  this  was  in 

1833- 

A  demand  was  now  made  for  his  services  in  Wilmington,  and 
thither  he  removed  to  spend  the  next  three  years  of  his  useful  life. 
As  Rector  of  St.  James'  Church,  he  was  not  long  in  working  him- 
self down.  For,  besides  the  care  of  his  own  flock — a  large  one — 
the  city  missionary  work  was  constantly  engaging  his  attention  ; 
and  among  the  poor,  the  sailors  and  the  strangers,  he  was  ever 
ready  to  do  his  Lord  service.  The  consequence  was  sickness 
with  necessary  rest  for  one  year.  But,  again,  we  find  him  well 
enough,  or  thinking  himself  well  enough,  to  remove  to  a  more 
invigorating  climate  and  enter  upon  his  duties  as  Rector  of  St. 
Luke's  Church,  Salisbury,  a  town  in  the  interior  of  the  State. 
Here  he  lived  for  ten  years,  in  charge  of  a  growing  Parish,  and, 
besides,  of  neighboring  missionary  stations,  and  even  the  distant 
congregations  in  Lexington  and  Mocksville.  Yet  God  gave 
him  strength  and  grace  for  it  all,  and  the  work  prospered  under 
his  hands.  No  less  than  six  churches  and  stations  were  supplied 
by  this  zealous,  indefatigable  Minister  of  the  Cross  during  these 
ten  years,  the  most  active  and  long  continued  residence,  of  his 
pastoral  life.  But  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that,  even 
then,  he  enjoyed  good  health.  In  fact,  from  the  very  first  of  his 
ministry  to  the  very  last  days  of  his  life,  the  disease  of  a  nervous 
debility  was  dragging  down  the  unconquerable  soul  within 
him ;   and  though,  time  after  time,  the  strong  will  of  the  man 


would  prevail,  and  the  intellect  would  shine  out  from  within,  and 
the  warm  heart  glow  and  kindle  his  own  and  others'  feelings — 
yet  each  effort  would  be  followed  by  fatigues  and  depressions, 
which  the  body  seemed  scarce  able  to  repair,  and  the  unflinch- 
ing purpose  of  the  man  was  taxed  to  repeat. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  Diocese  of  North  Carolina,  he  had  become 
very  highly  esteemed  for  his  own  and  his  work's  sake.  At  the 
Conventions  his  voice  and  influence  were  felt  and  acknowledged; 
but  he  was,  with  a  small  minority,  tired  out  in  the  struggle  with 
views  and  influences  which  prevailed  in  high  places,  and  which, 
finally,  after  he  had  left  North  Carolina,  had  their  reward  in  the 
sad  defection  of  their  chief  promoter,  and  their  rebuke  in  the 
healthy  re-action  of  the  Diocese. 

God  overruled,  in  His  way,  even  the  anxieties  and  troubles  of 
our  perplexed  presbyter  and  future  bishop  at  this  time ;  for  he 
then  laid-in  lasting  stores,  and  built  deep  foundations  of  theo- 
logical study,  facts  of  History,  variations  of  doctrine,  arguments 
of  controversy ;  but,  most  of  all,  with  strong  and  deep  expe- 
riences, with  profound  meditations,  and  with  great  searchings  of 
heart,  he  wrought  out  for  himself  a  clear  understanding  of  the 
Truth,  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  of  the  Church,  its  appointed  pillar 
and  ground.  He  comprehended  and  he  rejoiced  in  the  position 
and  the  work  which  God  has  assigned  to  the  Anglican  Church 
among  the  divisions  of  Christendom.  That  position,  with  no 
vulgar  intolerance,  he  held  to  be  eminent,  because  based  upon 
the  whole  truth,  Holy  and  Catholic,  reasonable  and  religious. 
That  work  he  believed  to  be  the  bearing  and  the  poising  of  the 
standard  of  the  Cross,  ever  at  the  highest,  and  above  the  de- 
flections of  jarring  and  extreme  opinion.  Other  churches,  he 
did  not  doubt,  might  have  the  standard,  too,  as  fighting  for  the 
same  cause,  and  only  separated  in  the  same  field,  as  sometimes 
troops  are  in  the  day  of  battle  by  inequalities  of  ground  or  ob- 
stacles of  topography ;  but  he  believed  we  held  the  centre. 
That  the  centre,  either  in  theology  or  churchmanship,  was  to 
be  esteemed,  as  nicely  and  exactly  defined  a  point,  as  the  geome- 
tricians would  make  it — he  never  for  a  moment  believed.      The 


IO 

fact  is,  for  the  Church  Militant,  the  centre  must  be  swaying,  now 
advancing  now  beaten  back,  and  again  advancing,  as  the  tide  of 
war,  and  the  surging  hosts  of  the  hostile  ages  require  new 
strategy  and  new  supplies  of  heavenly  wisdom.  Then,  again, 
truth,  of  such  kind  as  we  are  concerned  with,  is  never  given 
us,  is  never  to  be  found  by  us  in  precise  points  and  sharply  de- 
fined lines,  because,  as  Pascal  remarks,  our  instruments  of  touch 
and  apprehension  are  too  blunt  and  imperfect,  they  miss,  or  let 
it  drop,  or  slide  off  to  either  side  in  vain  attempts.  No — the  cen- 
tre, in  our  Bishop's  estimation,  however  real  a  thing  it  was,  and, 
however  certainly  he  believed  our  Church  to  contain,  cover  and 
occupy  it,  was,  after  all,  only  somewhere  within  the  bounds  of 
extreme  opinions  in  our  Church.  And,  accordingly,  if  he  came 
out  of  the  controversy  with  little  affection  for  those  tendencies 
to  externals  and  primitive  traditions  which  so  alarmed  and  of- 
fended him — if,  as  some  thought,  he  neglected  to  follow  out  the 
roots  of  what  is  called  Churchmanship,  it  must  be  confessed  that 
he  had  great  advantages  in  seeing  for  himself  the  poisonous 
fruits  of  that  excessive  Ecclesiasticism  which  too  often  takes  its 
place. 

But  this,  in  passing.  We  return  to  his  life,  and  find  him 
moving,  in  1846,  from  the  Diocese  of  North  to  that  of  South 
Carolina.  He  has  accepted  a  call  to  the  Rectorship  of  Grace 
Church,  Camden,  and  henceforth  his  lot  is  to  be  cast  among  us. 

There,  faithfully,  for  six  years  he  continued,  constantly  grow- 
ing closer  and  closer  to  his  people's  affections,  commanding 
their  attention  by  his  earnest,  eloquent  and  godly  teachings, 
and  winning  upon  their  confidence  by  his  sympathy  and  his 
prudence,  his  good  judgment  and  his  wise  counsels.  They  felt 
that  he  was  dear  to  them,  and  little  thought  how  strongly  that 
quiet  influence  of  the  man  was  raying  out,  all  around  and  be- 
yond them,  to  the  whole  community  of  Camden.  For  a  striking 
instance,  in  proof  of  his  uncommon  power  of  making  friends 
wherever  he  went,  is  worthy  of  mention.  During  his  Rectorship 
in  Camden,  the  congregation  of  St.  John's  Church,  Fayetteville, 
N.  C,  called  him,  with  warmth  and  urgency,  back  to  his  native 


1 1 

State  and  Diocese.  He  considered  the  call  very  seriously,  and, 
when  it  became  known  to  some  citizens  of  Camden  not  con- 
nected with  our  communion,  that  he  was  hesitating,  and,  per- 
haps, might  decide  to  leave,  they  came  forward  to  the  Vestry  of 
Grace  Church  and  freely  pledged  themselves  to  assist  in  offering 
him  all  possible  inducements  to  remain  where  he  was. 

Yet  he  was  but  little  known  in  the  Diocese  of  South  Carolina  ; 
hurried  annual  visits  to  Convention  scarcely  made  up  for  pro- 
tracted confinement  to  his  parish  duties.  But,  all  at  once,  proof 
came  again  of  the  power  and  the  value  of  this  gifted,  modest 
man;  and,  this  time,  it  was  proof  both  startling  and  distin- 
guished. 

By  the  death  of  the  Right  Rev.  Christopher  Edwards  Gads- 
den, the  Diocese  of  South  Carolina  was  then  without  its  chief 
officer.  The  Convention,  which  met  in  Charleston,  May,  1853, 
proceeded  to  the  election  of  a  Bishop,  and  after  much  ineffectual 
balloting,  the  choice  gradually  inclined  to  one  who  was  almost 
a  stranger  in  the  Diocese,  but,  nevertheless,  commanded  more 
general  confidence  than  any  other  candidate,  and  who,  at  length, 
receiving  the  almost,  if  not  altogether,  unanimous  vote  of  clergy 
and  laity,  was  declared  unanimously  elected  Bishop  of  the  Dio- 
cese of  South  Carolina.  The  Bishop  elect  was  Thomas  Freder- 
ick Davis  :  the  suddenness,  the  strangeness,  the  surprise  were  all 
of  God ;  and  gratefully  now  may  we  recognize  His  guidance, 
who  then  was  bestowing  on  us  a  blessing,  when  we  least  were 
aware  of  it. 

Let  me  mention  here  some  additional  evidence  of  the  wisdom 
and  providential  guiding  of  that  choice.  The  Diocese  of  North 
Carolina  was  vacant  also  at  the  time;  its  Convention  was  ex- 
pected to  meet  after  our  own,  and  many  longing  eyes  had  been 
directed  to  their  absent  Presbyter,  when,  with  disappointment 
mixed  with  pride,  they  must  have  learned  how  this  Diocese  had 
forestalled  them,  and  elevated  to  the  Episcopate  their  own  dis- 
tinguished son. 

The  consecration  of  Bishop  Davis,  together  with  the  Bishop 
of  the  Diocese  of  North  Carolina,  Thomas  Atkinson,  who  still 
survives  him,  took  place  in  the  City  of  New  York,  17th  October, 


12 

1 85 3.*  In  February  of  1854,  he  took  his  seat  for  the  first  time 
as  presiding  officer  of  the  Diocesan  Convention,  and  it  happened 
to  be  exactly  the  date  of  his  fiftieth  birth-day. 

It  was  not  long  before  all  began  to  see  the  good  and  great 
qualities  of  our  new  Diocesan.  Party  spirit  calmed  down  in 
his  presence,  and  from  first  to  last  of  his  Episcopate  has  been 
waning  and  passing  away  in  larger  views,  in  more  forbearance, 
in  diligence  and  zeal  of  good  works.  Never  has  an  administra- 
tion been  so  harmonizing  and  tranquilizing  as  his  has  been. 
The  secret  of  this  success,  under  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God, 
must  have  been  in  the  man,  his  character,  his  policy,  his  preach- 
ing, his  piety  and  opinions.  On  these,  if  time  permits,  we  may 
enlarge  further  on ;  but,  for  the  present,  let  us  complete  the 
review  of  his  life  by  just  touching  on  a  few  remaining  points. 

The  approach  of  his  blindness  was  at  first  very  gradual.  He 
always  wore  glasses  for  near-sightedness,  and  one  day,  in  trying 
them  before  purchasing  at  a  dealer's,  he  was  startled  at  finding 
the  sight  of  one  eye  greatly  impaired.  No  outward  appearance 
had  indicated  it,  no  pain  had  preceded  it ;  unconsciously  and 
insidiously  the  nervous  disorder  from  which  he  had  been  suffer- 
ing had  fastened  on  these  delicate  organs,  and  by  paralysis  of 
the  optic  nerve,  first  one,  then  the  other  eye  became  seriously 
affected.  Consultations  and  surgical  operations  were  held  and 
conducted.  In  1S58,  he  visited  England  and  the  Continent  of 
Europe.  In  Paris  he  took  the  highest  and  most  renowned  sur- 
gical and  medical  advice;  in  Philadelphia  and  in  Columbia, 
South  Carolina,  he  was  operated  upon  for  a  cataract  which  had 
made  its  appearance,  but  only  as  an  effect  and  not  a  cause  of 
disease.  No  relief  came,  and  about  the  year  1 86 1  or  1 862,  his  eye- 
sight, which  had  been  gradually  failing  for  four  years,  was  entirely 


*  The  Consecration  took  place  in  St.  John's  Chapel.  More  than  thirty  Bishops  were 
present.  The  Presiding  Bishop  was  Brownell,  who,  with  Bishops  Hopkins,  Smith, 
Spencer,  (of  the  Church  of"  England,)  and  others,  officiated  on  the  occasion.  The  Rev. 
Dr.  Hanckel,  of  South  Carolina,  assisted  in  the  services.  The  Sermon  was  by  the  Bishop 
of  Frederickton,  N.  S.,  from  2  Tim.  I:  5,  6.  The  Bishop-Elect  of  South  Carolina  was 
presented  by  Bishops  Greeji  and  Freeman.  The  Bishop-Elect  of  North  Carolina,  by 
Bishops    Whittingham  and   Cobbs. 


lost,  or  rather  taken  from  him,  by  the  all-wise  Providence  and 
the  chastening  hand  of  his  Heavenly  Father.  The  Bishop  felt 
his  affliction  with  a  poignancy  none,  not  even  his  dearest  friends, 
might  ever  know ;  but  he  never  murmured,  and  he  lived  to 
declare  repeatedly,  that  if  it  were  God's  will  to  restore  his  eye- 
sight, he  himself  would  hardly  consent  to  give  up  in  exchange 
those  spiritual  blessings  and  graces  which,  in  his  blindness,  had 
been  vouchsafed  to  him.  He  was  truly  and  sincerely  thankful 
for  the  trial ;  in  fact,  he  gloried,  like  St.  Paul,  in  this,  his  special 
tribulation  ;  for  him  it  worked  patience,  and  patience  experience, 
and  experience  hope,  and  hope  made  not  ashamed,  because  the 
love  of  God  was  shed  abroad  in  his  heart  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
which  is  given  unto  us.  The  sightless  eyes  were  scarcely  at  all 
disfigured ;  and,  except  by  his  movements,  one  would  hardly,  at 
a  little  distance,  have  suspected  the  infirmity  which  cast  its 
shadow  over  his  life.  And  yet  it  deprived  him  never  entirely  of 
his  buoyancy,  his  playfulness  or  his  pleasantries.  We  can  re- 
member the  worn  face  relaxing  and  brightening  sometimes, 
though  bereft  of  the  sparkling  eye,  and  the  old  time  sunny 
smile.  We  can  picture  him  moving  slowly  about  the  room, 
with  tall  figure  and  faithful  walking  cane,  and  almost  wait  to 
hear  the  striking  of  the  cane  against  the  furniture,  as  he  felt  his 
way  in  darkness  to  his  accustomed  seat.  Or,  how  often,  in  the 
services  of  the  Sanctuary  have  we  not  been  touched  by  his  ap- 
pearance as  he  entered,  leaning  on  some  supporting  arm  ;  or 
guided,  at  Confirmation,  so  as  to  lay  his  hands  on  the  heads  of 
the  Candidates  kneeling  at  the  rail!  Once,  in  a  favorable  mo- 
ment, I  remember  asking  him,  whether  the  thought  of  his  blind- 
ness  was  often  in  his  mind  ?  He  replied,  No ;  but  soon  after 
added,  in  sad,  measured  tones,  "Sometimes,  when  I  am  just 
about  opening  my  lips  to  address  a  large  and  strange  congrega- 
tion, I  feel  as  if  there  were  walls  of  darkness  between  them  and 
me." 

But  grateful  though  it  should  be  to  linger  on  dear  memories 
like  these,  I  am  admonished  to  hasten  forward  with  my  theme. 

The  Theological  Seminary,  established  for  the  Diocese  in 
1859,  and  first  located  in  Camden,  so  as  to  be  immediately  con^ 


venient  to  the  Bishop,  was  mainly  a  creation  of  his  own.  He 
took  the  greatest  interest  in  it,  and  Professors  and  students  alike, 
together,  looked  up  to  him  for  cheer  and  counsel  and  instruction. 
Now  it  is  no  more,  and  our  prostrate  Diocese  instead  of  ten, 
has  not  even  two  Students  of  Divinity  awaiting  Orders.  But  no 
more  pleasing  associations  will  cling  to  its  memory,  than  those 
of  our  informal,  weekly  evenings  at  the  Bishop's,  when  profes- 
sors and  students  would  hear  him  speak  unreservedly  and  elo- 
quently of  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  make  manifest  the  mystery 
of  Christ,  and  dwell  on  the  constitution  of  the  Church,  and  all 
unconsciously  in  his  blindness,  stir  our  souls  with  somewhat  of 
the  love  of  Christ,  which  glowed  so  brightly  in  his  own. 

The  War  came  on,  and  with  it,  and  ever  since,  change  and 
decay.  How  the  Bishop  reasoned  out  powerfully  as  a  states- 
man, and  devoutly  as  a  theologian,  the  situation  and  the  new 
sectional  adjustments  necessary  for  the  Church  in  the  Southern 
States  ;  how  he  entirely  and  warmly  sympathized  with  the  Cause 
and  the  ill-ending  of  the  Confederacy  ;  how  he  rallied  the  broken, 
shattered  ranks  of  his  Diocese,  and  counted  up  his  losses,  being 
no  less  than  twenty  Clergymen,  removed  in  two  years  after  the 
close  of  the  war — you  all  know  too  well.  It  is  a  sad  story,  but 
it  is  the  Lord's  will,  and  we  together  took  up  the  burden  and 
the  care,  that  we  might  cast  them  upon  Him  who  hath  prom- 
ised to  care  for  us  and  sustain  us. 

But  the  burden  was  becoming  too  heavy  for  our  Bishop  ;  age, 
too,  was  adding  its  weight  to  his  iife-long  infirmities,  and  so  at 
length  he  gave  notice,  as  early  as  the  first  year  after  the  close  of 
the  War,  that  he  would,  whenever  he  felt  he  could  not  do  with- 
out one,  apply  for  the  election  of  an  Assistant.  The  actual  notice 
came  in  1870,  and,  accordingly,  at  the  Diocesan  Convention  of 
the  present  year,  which  met  in  Charleston  last  May,  an  election 
was  held,  resulting  in  the  choice  of  the  present  Bishop,  and  suc- 
cessor of  our  departed  Diocesan. 

One  bright  chapter,  at  least,  was  granted  him  towards  the 
close  of  his  Episcopate,  and  that  was  the  General  Convention  in 
Baltimore  last  fall.  He  spoke  of  it  in  Baltimore  as  being — to 
some,  whose  days   were  numbered,  and  to  whom   the  night  of 


15 

death  was  drawing  near- — a  glorious  sunset  view  granted  by  the 
Head  of  the  Church  to  his  departing  servants!  He  returned  from 
it  refreshed  in  body  and  spirit,  preaching  and  confirming  at 
Florence,  where  he  presided  at  the  consecration  of  St.  John's 
Church,  and  again,  the  following  Sunday,  preaching,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  opening  of  the  new  Grace  Church,  in  Camden, 
which  God  spared  him  to  enter  in  life,  before  in  death — his  body 
was  borne  up  its  aisle.  How  little  we  all,  who  heard  him,  thought, 
as  we  listened  to  him  that  day — the  twenty-fourth  Sunday  after 
Trinity,  being  the  19th  day  of  November — >that  the  sermon  he 
was  preaching  was  to  be  his  last!  How  little  prepared  were  we 
for  the  shock  of  his  sudden  death — painless  to  him,  but  ah ! 
how  painful  to  us  !  Little  prepared  were  we  for  it ;  but  oh  how 
well  prepared  was  he  for  the  summons  of  his  Lord  ! 

Had  wc  forgotten  the  many  times  that  frail  body  had  been 
wearied  in  our  service  ?  Had  we  lost  count  of  the  heart-throbs, 
the  sinkings,  the  exhaustions,  which  always  followed  in  the 
wake  of  those  efforts,  he  concealed  from  us,  but  would  rouse 
himself  to  make  for  our  good,  and  the  glory  of  his  Redeemer's 
Kingdom  ?  Had  custom  so  blunted  our  perception  as  to  en- 
tirely deceive  us  into  supposing  him  really  to  be  stronger  than 
he  looked,  really  to  be  more  capable  and  enduring  in  his  old 
age  than  in  his  youth  ?  I  cannot  tell ;  but,  shocked  as  we  were, 
the  truth,  when  it  was  all  over,  seemed  very  apparent,  and  that 
truth  was,  his  body  had  been  all  the  time  a  living  sacrifice  to 
the  cause  of  his  Master ;  as  a  whole  burnt  offering  laid  on  the 
altar  of  his  consecration,  the  last  embers  of  it  were  consuming 
under  our  eyes  and  we  knew  it  not !  Weakness  !  weariness ! 
blindness  !  none  of  those  things  had  moved  him,  neither  had 
he  counted  his  life  dear  unto  himself,  so  that  he  might  finish 
his  course  with  joy,  and  the  Ministry  which  he  had  received  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  to  testify  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  ! 

Our  dear  Bishop  died  in  Camden  on  the  2d  of  December,  the 
last  day  of  the  Christian  year  just  passed.  A  severe  spell  of  cold 
weather  had  confined  him  to  the  house,  with  a  slight  indisposi- 
tion during  the  three  or  four  preceding  days  ;  but  so  little  did 
he  or  his  family  look  for  danger,  that  he  was  expecting,  up  to 


i6 

the  day  before  his  death,  to  keep  an  appointment  for  Confirma- 
tion in  Sumter,  which  would  have  required  him  to  leave  home 
the  very  day  he^died,  being  Saturday.  His  physician,  however, 
persuaded  him,  in  consequence  chiefly  of  the  cold  weather,  from 
which  he  always  constitutionally  suffered,  to  give  up  the  ap- 
pointment. On  Saturday  morning,  he  awoke  refreshed  after  a 
good  night's  rest,  but  soon  complained  of  sudden  chilly  and 
faint  feelings.  Vigorous  but  simple  remedies  were  used  by  the 
family,  and  the  doctor  was  sent  for.  The  Bishop  meanwhile 
appeared  to  grow  more  comfortable,  and  spoke  very  naturally 
to  his  wife  and  daughter,  who  were  at  his  bedside.  But,  again, 
while  they  were  ministering  to  him  a  sudden  chill  or  congestion 
caused  him  to  shiver  a  little,  and  as  they  drew  closer  to  him  in 
tender  service  of  affection,  the  breath  of  life  departed  with  no 
more  struggle  than  a  gentle  sigh.  He  had  walked  with  God, 
like  Enoch,  and  he  was  not.  Like  Enoch,  almost  it  appeared  as 
though  "  God  took  him."  This  was  at  nine  o'clock  Saturday 
morning.  From  lip  to  lip  sped  the  evil  tidings  of  his  death  ; 
from  one  end  of  the  Diocese  to  the  other  the  message  was  sent ; 
and  ere  the  sad  day  of  his  decease  had  closed  in  mournful  night, 
thousands  were  sorrowing  over  their  loss.  Many  churches  (next 
day  being  Sunday)  were  draped  in  mourning ;  preparations  were 
made  for  attendance  at  his  funeral,  and,  on  the  Monday  follow- 
ing, his  remains,  borne  by  six  Clergymen  and  two  Laymen,  into 
Grace  Church  for  the  Burial  service,  performed  by  his  successor 
in  the  Episcopate,  were  finally  carried  to  the  grave  amid  the 
throng  of  the  whole  community,  and  the  tolling  of  the  bells, 
lending  honors  to  the  dead,  proffering  sympathy  to  the  living, 
and  sounding  forth  the  sorrow  of  all  hearts.  Simple  were  the 
rites,  for  he  loved  simplicity,  yet  royal  were  the  words  of  trium- 
phant Christian  hope  and  faith,  with  which  we  laid  him  in  the 
grave.  "Earth  to  earth — ashes  to  ashes — dust  to  dust,"  indeed — 
yet  "looking  for  the  general  Resurrection  in  the  last  day  and  the 
life  of  the  world  to  come,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  at 
whose  second  coming  in  glorious  majesty  to  judge  the  world,  the 
earth  and  the  sea  shall  give  up  their  dead,  and  the  corruptible 
bodies  of  those  who  sleep  in  Him  shall  be  changed  and  made  like 


17 

unto  His  own  glorious  body,  according  to  the  mighty  working 
whereby  He  is  able  to  subdue  all  things  unto  himself!" 

And  now,  let  us  ask  ourselves,  wherein  lay  the  goodness  and 
the  greatness  of  this  good  and  great  man  ? 

His  Episcopate,  we  have  said,  was  wisely  and  harmoniously 
administered ;  it  was  more  marked  than  that.  From  the  very 
first,  it  was  his  declared  policy  to  be  a  Missionary  Bishop,  to 
carry  the  Gospel  to  the  destitute,  and  extend  in  the  upper  dis- 
tricts of  the  State,  where  our  Church  was  but  little  known,  a 
better  knowledge  of  her  pure  and  primitive  constitution.  The 
old  and  settled  Parishes  of  the  Low  country,  he  saw,  could  spare 
much  of  his  supervision  ;  and,  without  ever  forgetting  them,  he 
bent  his  mind  upon  other  work,  and  labored  more  abundantly 
in  fresher  fields.  Such  were  the  advantages  of  his  early  training 
in  intercourse  with  men,  in  the  practical  affairs  of  the  Law,  in  the 
arduous  life  of  a  missionary  presbyter — such  were  the  sincerity 
of  his  address,  the  straightforward  yet  considerate  advances  of 
the  man — such  the  genial  play  of  his  sympathies — the  exactness 
and  retentiveness  of  his  memory,  as  regards  persons,  places  and 
things — the  readiness  and  effectiveness  of  his  preaching,  and  the 
wisdom  of  his  appointments  and  selection  of  men  to  carry  on  the 
work — that  the  Church  grew  rapidly  in  all  directions,  where  it 
had  scarcely  been  heard  of  before,  and  the  vigorous  heart  of  the 
interior  responded  with  an  ardor  and  admiration  for  the  man  and 
his  ministry  which  will  never  die  out,  but  will  preserve  the 
memory  of  "  the  old  Bishop,"  more  particularly  in  those  parts 
of  the  Diocese,  green  and  fragrant  for  many  generations.  From 
many  such  congregations  of  his  founding  or  fostering  have  been 
returned  material  aid  and  comfort  to  the  once  flourishing,  but 
now  wasted,  parishes  of  our  still  desolated  Seaboard. 

His  Character,  or  disposition,  by  nature  strong  and  nervous 
and  stern,  was  made,  by  the  grace  of  God,  to  take  in  to  its  rather 
angular  constitution  large  secret  elements  of  love  and  tender- 
ness ;  and  without  ever  losing  its  more  robust  or  severe  traits,  to 
cttow  more  and  more  into  the  likeness  of  the  perfect  man,  even 
into  the  image  of  the  meekness  and  gentleness  of  Christ.  Yet 
it  was  one  of  those  characters  intended  by  the   Creator  to  be 


iS 

always  more  ready  to  press  than  to  yield — to  act  upon  others 
rather  than  to  be  acted  upon  by  others.  As  a  character,  it  had 
for  its  very  key-stone  a  rare  habit  of  truthfulness  in  everything  ; 
in  thought,  in  manner,  in  word  and  in  deed,  his  was  a  deep  love 
of  truth,  pure  in  its  ideal,  exact  in  its  expression,  severe  in  its 
application.  Nothing  so  saddened  him  as  the  deterioration  of 
personal  probity  and  social  tone ;  in  his  estimation,  they  were 
proud  possessions,  and  their  decay  was  like  the  removing  of 
foundations. 

Again,  he  had  abundant  independence  ;  he  had  self-reliance 
without  vain-glory  ;  he  had  caution,  without  the  "  craven  scru- 
ple of  thinking  too  precisely  on  th'  event;"  judgment,  without 
vacillation,  fastidiousness  or  punctiliousness ;  firmness,  without 
stubbornness  ;  gentleness,  without  any  weakness,  sentimentality 
or  affectation.  There  remained  always  in  the  Bishop  more  of 
the  fortiter  in  re  than  of  the  suaviter  in  modo  ;  yet  not  so  much 
the  more  was  he  a  man  of  action  than  of  thought.  Previous  to 
his  later  infirmities  of  blindness  and  helplessness,  perhaps  he 
was  more  a  man  of  action  than  a  man  of  thought.  Certainly, 
after  he  was  thrown  in  upon  himself,  it  was  to  be  expected 
that  would  be  changed,  and  so  it  was ;  he  became  pre- 
eminently a  man  of  thought,  his  mind  perpetually  brooded 
over  the  great  deeps  of  God's  truth  and  judgments;  yet  neither 
did  his  blindness  prevent  him  from  Episcopal  visitations,  often 
the  most  active  and  fatiguing,  nor  did  his  thoughtfulncss  over- 
grow his  interest  in  the  practical  duties  of  life.  His  preaching, 
alone,  towards  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  did  sometimes  betray, 
as  it  rarely  did  before  his  blindness,  this  tendency  to  stop  short 
of  applications  in  the  desire  to  think  out  all  the  lines  of  pure 
thought  suggested  by  his  subject.  But  even  here  I  may  be  mis- 
taken as  to  his  intentions,  which  may  have  earnestly  been  set  to 
apply  the  truth  in  practical  lessons,  yet,  before  the  point  of  ap- 
plication was  reached  in  the  discourse,  were  diverted  and  de- 
feated by  nervous  and  mental  fatigue. 

In  general,  his  Preaching  was  close  and  logical,  absolutely 
free  from  cant,  or  excessive  use  of  mere  technicalities  of  religious 
books.     Yet  it  was  always  fiesh,  striking  and  effective;  and  if 


19 

eloquence  be,  as  some  one  has  defined  it,  "  Logic  set  on  fire," 
Bishop  Davis  was  often  truly  eloquent ;  for  his  animation  would 
kindle  with  his  subject,  and  his  subject  would  shine  back  into 
his  mind,  and  thence  would  shoot  forth,  at  times,  rays  of  bright 
light,  and  tongues  of  flame  and  passion,  and  burning  words  of 
truth,  searching  the  hearts  of  all  his  hearers.  The  grace  of  God 
which  bringeth  Salvation  ;  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away 
the  Sin  of  the  world ;  the  Spirit  of  God,  which  worketh  in  us 
both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure,  were  all,  in  tri-unity 
of  Divine  love  and  power,  brought  forward  to  his  hearers ;  yet 
no  man  was  farther  from  adopting  a  scheme  of  indifferent  mercy 
or  inactive  faith.  He  held  up,  continually,  the  fact  of  the  cor- 
ruption of  Sin,  and  the  constant  need  of  Repentance  and  Renewal. 
He  strove  always  to  impress  upon  the  believer,  not  the  merit  of 
Works,  but  trie  absolute  necessity  of  zvorking  out  each  his  own 
salvation.  He  contended  always  for  the  freedom  of  man  in  the 
choice  of  good  and  ill,  though  quietly  reposing  before  the  un- 
questioned mystery  of  God's  sovereignty  and  omniscience. 
"  Mystery !"  said  he,  in  his  last  sermon,  "  yes,  we  Christians 
shrink  not  from  mystery  ;  we  have  mystery  and  truth  ;  sceptics 
have  plainness  and  error !" 

And,  Brethren,  he  had  a  profound  mind,  capable  of  fathoming, 
beyond  most  men's  reach,  the  mysteries  of  life,  death  and  im- 
mortality, of  weighing  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,  of 
measuring  the  exceeding  breadth  of  God's  commandments.  His 
endowments  were  less  imaginative  than  intellectual,  less  syn- 
thetic than  analytic,  less  intuitive  than  ratiocinative.  To 
some  his  oratory  may  have  seemed  lacking  in  warmth  and 
colour,  but  it  always  presented  solid,  clear-cut  and  shining 
thought ;  to  some  his  sermons  may  have  appeared  unfinished 
works,  but  they  never  failed  to  be  striking  expositions  and  co- 
gent arguments.  His  premises  were  always  laid  upon  the  broadest 
principles  :  his  objectors  were  fairly  met :  his  ground  was  swept 
clean,  and  then  you  saw  the  logical  structure  rise  before  you,  the 
pieces  finding  their  joinery,  the  arguments  falling  into  their 
places,  and  the  movement  proceeding  with  infallible  certainty  of 
aim  and  inevitable  approach  nearer  and  nearer,  unto  the  perfect 


20 

ending  and  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter!  It  is  known  that 
in  the  House  of  Bishops,  at  the  last  Convention  in  Baltimore, 
he  spoke  at  length  on  the  subject  of  Baptismal  Regeneration, 
and  with  such  power  as  to  attract  the  most  marked  admiration. 

And  so  I  might  go  on  to  tell  you  of  many  things  which 
would,  in  greater  or  less  degree,  serve  to  explain  some  phase  or 
feature  of  the  good  Bishop's  self.  Let  but  one  more  suffice,  and 
I  shall  conclude.  We  have  alluded  to  his  fondness  and  aptitude 
for  mystery.  Not  long  since,  in  commenting  on  a  Memorial 
sermon,  wherein  mention  had  been  made  of  the  dying  Christian's 
desire  to  grasp  some  sure  notion  of  the  unseen  world,  some 
conception  of  the  state  of  the  soul  after  it  is  released  from  the 
burden  of  the  flesh,  some  intelligible  idea  of  the  presence  of 
God,  the  Bishop  said  to  my  informant,  "  Do  you  know  that 
passage  in  your  sermon  touched  me  more  than  anything  else. 
I  too  am  constantly  puzzling  myself  with  just  those  very  ques- 
tions, and  I  cannot  get  at  all  into  the  mystery  which  envelops 
them." 

And  think  of  that  old  man  now,  endowed  with  eternal  youth, 
no  longer  straining  his  earthly  powers  over  the  brink  of  the 
grave  to  make  out  the  things  which  to  us  in  this  life  are  unseen 
because  eternal,  no  longer  peering  into  blank  vacuity  of  mys- 
tery, but  with  some  angelic  guide  visiting  the  shrine  within  the 
vail,  gazing  with  unsealed  eyes  upon  the  great  Mystery  of  God- 
liness, God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  and  seeing  the  very  Beauty  of 
Holiness,  face  to  face  ! 

And  these,  while  he  preached  and  talked  to  us  of  plainer 
things,  these  were  the  subjects  that  most  engaged  his  mind,  a 
mind  bound  down  continually  by  weights  and  bands  to  such  a 
body.  Yet  frail  as  that  body  was,  dust  as  it  is,  the  corruptible 
shall  put  on  incorruption,  the  mortal  shall  put  on  immortality, 
and  it  shall  rise  again,  and  may  God  grant  us  all  the  joy  of 
seeing  it  once  more,  and  having  together  "  our  perfect  consum- 
mation and  bliss  both  in  body  and  soul,  in  His  eternal  and  ever- 
lasting glory  !" 

Yes,  our  dear  Bishop's  soul  seemed  to  be  bound  down  by  the 
body  in  this  life,  all  through  the  tedious  days  of  the  years  of  his 


21 

lengthened  pilgrimage  ;  nevertheless,  as  the  Apostle  Paul,  went 
"bound  in  the  spirit"  unto  Jerusalem  below,  so  every  step  in  his 
blindness  and  infirmity  took  our  Bishop  so  much  nearer  home,  to 
the  Jerusalem  which  is  above.  There,  in  due  time,  now  he  will 
surely  come ;  and  already  with  the  departed  Saints  of  all  ages, 
and  with  the  great  Apostle,  whose  words  have  been  our  text — he 
has  finished  his  course  with  joy,  and  the  Ministry  which  he  re- 
ceived of  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  testify  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of 
God. 

How  often  has  he  not  testified  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God 
to  each  and  all  of  us !  And  with  such  power,  I  doubt  not,  as 
made  us  feel  it,  and  our  dread  responsibility  under  it.  Remem- 
ber then,  dear  Brethren,  that  above  there — the  Bishop  waits  to  see 
us,  one  after  another  enter,  that  he  may  rejoice  over  us  as  a 
shepherd  over  the  sheep  and  lambs  of  his  flock,  once  scattered, 
but  now  come  to  the  one  fold  and  the  ONE  Shepherd  of  their 
souls  !  Revere  then  his  memory  !  Treasure  his  example !  Love 
the  man  yet !  But  remember,  you  will  love  him  now,  only  as 
you  love  the  words  which  he  left  you,  and  hate  the  things  which 
he  taught  you  to  hate,  and  cling  to  the  cross  of  Christ  which  he 
upheld  before  you  ! 


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